Improvement in combined carpet stretchers and fasteners



A. R. HEATH. Combine-d Carpet Streichers and Fasteners.

N40,l48,296 PatentedAMarCh10,-1874.

UNITED STATES PATENT QEETCE.

ALFRED It. HEATH, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN COMBINED CARPET STRETCHEBS AND FASTENERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 148,296, dated March 10, 1874; application filed July 19, 1873.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, ALFRED R. HEATH, of the city of Hartford, county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Carpet Stretcher and Fastener 3 and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure l is a plan view of my invention. Fig. 2 is an end view, showing its adaptation and application to use in stretching and securing a carpet to the floor 5 and Fig. 3 is a side view of the hook.

The object of my invention is to provide a means of stretching and securing a carpet to the floor from the under side of the carpet; and it consists of a series of strips, each strip being provided with a series of hooks at'one edge, at suitable distances apart, and provided at the other edge with a series of staples, by means of which the strips are hinged or pivoted to the oor at a distance from the baseboard equal to the width of the strip. These strips being pivoted to the loor and laid toward the center of the room, the edge of the carpet is pulled taut and attached to the hooks, and the strips are then swung over and laid upon the floor close to the base-board, and secured in that position by a button upon the base board, or spring catch, or any other suitable fastening, and the carpet is thereby stretched taut and secured fast to the floor.

In the drawings, A represents one of the strips, which, for convenience, may be about three feet long, and into one edge thereof are driven the hooks b, which, as shown in Fig. 3, consist of pieces of Wire, each so bent as to have one long arm, fm, and one short one, n. These hooks may be ldriven into the strip A, at suitable distances apart, and into the other edge of said strip are driven the staples c asay, two in each strip. These strips are hinged or pivoted in a line along the floor h of a room, on two of its adjacent sides, by the staples c passing through the staples c and into the door, at such a distance from the baseboard E that the strips may lie lat upon the floor between the staples c and the base-board, as shown in Fig. 2.

To stretch and secure the carpet, the latter is made a little smaller than the actual size of the room, and may be tacked down in the ordinary manner on two adjacent sides of the room, -and the other two adjacent edges are attached to the series of hooks b in the edges of the strips, with the strips upon the floor in the position at e, in dotted lines in Fig. 2, the carpet being also stretched lengthwise the strips to correspond with the side opposite, which is tacked down. After the carpet has been attached to all the strips, one of them is raised, in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 2, to the position shown in dotted lines at f. This raising or turning one of the strips upon its hinges raises the next strip A to nearly the same position, by the upward pressure or movement of the edge of the carpet secured thereto. The first strip A is then forced entirely over upon the loor close to the baseboard, and secured by a button upon the latter, or a spring-catch, or by any other desirable and convenient means, and the whole sc-j ries of strips are successively raised and turned over upon the floor close to the baseboard upon the two sides of the room, and all may be done in a very few minutes, and the carpet is then evenly and nicely stretched and firmly secured.

When it is desired to Atake up the carpet, the buttons or catches upon the base-board are turned to one side, and all, the strips A may be turned over at once, and the carpet unhooked from the strips very quickly.

Any ordinary hook attached to strips might serve the purpose equally as well, and the strips, instead of having hooks attached or secured thereto, might be made double, and clamp the edge of the carpet between their edges. I prefer the hooks as shown, however, as the most simple method of holding the edge of the carpet.

If desirable, the series of strips may be se cured to the floor at all four sides of the room, and the carpet may then be put down or taken up much quicker and easier than if two edges were tacked down.

This strip, which may be of any desirable width'say, three or four inches Wide-will stretch the carpet some six or eight inches, or full twice the width of the strips 5 and when the carpet is stretched and put down in this manner, it is stretched from the under side, and is not s0 liable to be injured thereby.

These strips A, instead of being made of Wood, may be made of cast or sheet metal, or of any other suitable material, and they may also be of any desired length and size.

It is evident that any other hinges may be used instead of the staples a and c, Without departing from the principle of operation.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new is A carpet stretcher and fastener7 consisting` of the swinging piece A, provided with hooks or fastenings, which piece may be hinged or pivoted to the loor of a room, by means of which a carpet may be stretched from its lower side and secured7 substantially as described.

ALFRED R. HEATH. 

